“We don’t have time. I’m sorry, Angel. We just don’t have time. We have to go.” Seth wrenched me away from the room.

Numb—I was numb inside. So numb that I really didn’t feel the bruises the hits had left behind, the ache that each step jarred out of me. Finding a Hummer wasn’t hard, but ignoring the sounds of fighting all around us was difficult. Instinct demanded that I throw myself back into the fray, but I doubted Seth would appreciate that.

I scanned the dark grounds, relieved to see that Guards still held a line around the school. The daimons hadn’t broken through. At least the students were safe.

But what about the servants?

On the way to the airport, Seth carried out Aiden’s plan. After several unsuccessful tries, he was able to reach Marcus. I stared out the window, still numb with shock.

Seth said exactly what Aiden had instructed, telling Marcus that the daimons had tried to take me. “—and get her out of here in Lucian’s plane tonight.”

It sounded as though Marcus agreed with the idea of getting me out of New York. “Lucian is among the survivors. I’ll pass on the information.”

Some of the tension in my body eased off knowing that Lucian and Marcus were alive, but there were still many more whose fates were unknown at this point. There’d been so many bodies, so many daimons. What about Laadan?

Seth and I didn’t talk until we’d boarded Lucian’s jet. I took a seat beside a window while Seth encouragedthe pilot and the servants to take off without Lucian.

I rested my head against the cool pane, squeezing my eyes shut. My stomach felt hollow. At some point after the plane took off, I stopped thinking. I just sat there, existing in a world where I might not even have a future. So many things could go wrong at this point. What if the compulsion failed to work? If so, Guards would be waiting for us the moment the plane landed. And even if Aiden was successful, compulsions weren’t guaranteed to be permanent. They could wear off after time.

Then what? Both Aiden and I would lose everything.

Seth dropped into the seat beside me. I lifted my head and glanced at him. He held two glasses in his hands, filled with something that looked a lot like liquor. “What is it?”

“It’s not the brew.” His joke fell flat, but I smiled weakly and took it. “It’s just scotch. It should help.”

I downed the glass and handed it back. “Thank you.”

“You really stopped the furies?”

Nodding, I handed the glass back to him. “Cut their heads off. They said they’d be back, though.”

“Only a god can truly kill another god.” He paused. “Or a god killer, but if you cut off their heads I can imagine that would put them out of commission for a while.”

“Seth, they said… they said I was the threat.” I bit my lip, shuddering. “Oh, gods, I killed a pure.”

“Shh. Don’t ever say that again. You know how much Aiden is risking. Don’t let it all go to waste.” Seth leaned over, draping his arm around my shoulders. After a few seconds, he spoke. “He really… isn’t like the other pures, Alex.”

“I know,” I whispered. Aiden wasn’t like anyone I knew, and there was no way I could accept that his actions tonight were a sense of duty on steroids.

But there was nothing I could do about that right now.

I looked out the tiny window, out into the dark night. Below, diamond-shaped lights grew smaller and smaller, becoming insignificant and vanishing as we moved into ominous clouds. I drew in a deep breath, but it got stuck in my throat. I’d killed a pure-blood and the man I loved was down there, covering it up, risking everything for me.

What had I done?

Thinking back on those seconds when I’d seen the pure raise the dagger, I knew there’d been time to avoid the deadly plunge of the blade. I was fast. I could’ve moved out of the way. I could’ve run. I hadn’t needed to killhim.

Seth’s arm around my shoulder’s tightened as if he could read my mind. “You were defending yourself, Alex.”

“Was I?”

“Yes. They declared war on us. You had no other choice.”

“There are always choices.” I pulled my gaze from the window and looked at Seth. There are always choices. I just had this terrible habit of making the wrong ones and now I had to deal with it. So did Aiden. So did Seth.

Seth reached out slowly, as if he was afraid to startle me. His caught my chin with the tips of his fingers. He didn’t say anything. Not that he needed to—the connection between us was there, sparking alive.

I neededit right now— neededSeth.

Closing my eyes, I let him guide my head to his shoulder. And after I could take the first deep breath of air without choking on it—after I’d made my choice—I finally let the connection in completely. Seth’s presence— his warmthsurrounded me. Waves of comfort washed over me, easing the knots in my stomach. Not filling in all the cracks, not replacing ones that lingered back in the Catskills, but filling enough that I felt a little better, a little saner.

This e-book contains a bonus scene from Seth's Point-of-View

I watched Dawn place her hand on Aiden’s arm and once again felt a wealth of gratitude that Alex had decided not to attend this ball. If she werehere watching this, she might've ripped out every strand of the pure-blood’s coppery hair.

Images of Alex going all girl-fight filled my head, and I snickered.

Aiden raised his brows at me. “Doing okay over there?”

I rolled my eyes, not even bothering to answer. Just because I was standing next to him—only because he was the least undesirable option at the moment—didn’t mean I was going to be chatty with him. On a good day, the animosity levels between us were usually at CODE RED. Bad days they were at CODE I’M GOING TO KILL YOU.

We had more bad days than good days.

The pure’s gray eyes narrowed before he turned back to the one of the Councilman’s sons, who was currently describing how thrilling yachting on the open sea was. Boredom was going to kill me. My gaze slid over to where Lucian stood, surrounding by the Ministers. Even he was looking like he’d be a more stimulating company.

Aiden sighed under his breath, loud enough that I could hear him, and I almost laughed out loud. Apparently he and I shared more than one thing in common: our current boredom and one—

A shiver of awareness rolled over my skin, and I could feel the marks tingling, responding to the presence of her. Alex.

I turned slowly, zeroing in on where she was. Now what in the Hades was she doing down… my brain pretty much emptied of all rational thought.

Alex stood just inside the entrance of the ballroom, looking as frightened as a wood nymph having earned Apollo’s favor. Her anxiety hummed around her, but I wasn’t feeling it. Well, I was feeling something.

There always was this certain beauty to her—one that was rough at the edges, making her unique to those around her. But tonight, dressed in a red gown that should’ve been illegal on her body? I’d seen Alex in workout clothes, in those little distracting pajama bottoms, and in regular clothes, but damn. That wild tangle of hair was twisted up… and those eyes…

Tonight she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

I watched her move away from Laadan and Lucian, retreating to the side. She didn’t belong there. Hades, she didn’t belong here.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, her eyes met mine. She lifted her glass, silently saluting me. Every muscle in my body locked up, and then I realized I was staring at her like an imbecile.

“Holy crap,” I murmured.

I felt Aiden stiffen beside me, and I wondered if he somehow knew that she was here, if there was some kind of bond that coursed between those two that was far more powerful than what Alex and I shared. Impossible… but I wondered.

Then he looked over his shoulder, and dear gods, I never seen a man more surprised by a girl in a dress than Aiden. Okay. Lie. I had been just as surprised, and if he was thinking half of what I was thinking, I sort of wanted to hit him more than I usually did.